Jennifer O. Rominiecki possesses nearly twenty years of varied and senior-level management experience at major, audience-driven, and complex New York City cultural institutions with educational missions and historic preservation aspects. Rominiecki served The New York Botanical Garden—one of the world’s most dynamic botanical gardens ‎and research institutions—for 15 years in increasing roles of responsibility. As […]

Springtime in Florida means getting back into the garden and getting your hands dirty! What will you be adding to your landscape this year? Need inspiration or some cool new plants? How about answers to your horticultural questions? Then you need to join us at the Selby Gardens Plant and Garden Festival February 21st and […]

Gossypium hirsutum (Malvaceae) Origin: Florida and the West Indies to Central America Wild cotton is an endangered species in Florida. Habitat loss due to human development, is the usual reason plants and animals get placed on such a list. Cotton, however, was once found growing in some of the most inhospitable places in Florida, and […]

Top 10 Botanically-themed Treasures that say “Romance” at Selby Gardens It’s that time of year again and romance is in the air! Retail stores and the online world is buzzing with search queries by enthusiastic husbands and boyfriends and wives and girlfriends looking to find just the right way to show their significant other how […]

Scientific Name: Angraecum sesquipedale Common Name: comet orchid Family: Orchidaceae Origin: Madagascar Prominently on display in the tropical Conservatory at Selby Gardens’ is the magnificent Angraecum sesquipedale. This dramatic Angraecum is not only a beautiful orchid but has a fascinating history that supports the theory of natural selection and will only be in bloom for […]

Acer rubrum (Sapindaceae) Origin: Eastern United States Found from Eastern Texas to the coastal forests of North Carolina and Nova Scotia all the way south to the Everglades, red maple is one of the most common trees in the Eastern United States. It is adapted to a mind-blowing number of climatic and soil conditions; from […]

If you’re looking to immerse yourself in the wonder of nature, a botanical garden may be just what you’re looking for. Vibrant paths of beautiful green foliage and exotic flowers will have you feeling as though you are walking through a tropical wonderland. To ensure we provide an unparalleled experience to each visitor, Selby’s botanical […]

Following an international search, Jennifer Rominiecki has been named the new President and Chief Executive Officer of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. She will begin her new duties February 9, 2015. She brings 15 years of extensive professional background in capital planning and funding, institutional operations, management, special events and exhibition projects with The New York […]

Florida is a land of many habitats. Coastal dunes, river banks, dry scrub, wet prairie, and pinelands all vary from each other, and all feature different plants. They also feature some of the same plants. One they all share in common is saw palmetto. Bane to the existence of early explorers and modern botanists alike, it gets its common name from the minutely-toothed petioles, which can really do a number on your shins when hiking through a dense clump of the small palms. Unlike most palms, which feature a vertical trunk and grow to be very tall, saw palmetto forms a trunk which scrambles around on top of the ground, sometimes for many meters. When they do grow vertically, they rarely reach over three or four meters tall.

Fall is one of the best times of year in Florida to see native wildflowers blooming. We have so many different habitats represented in our state, from sandy beaches to wet swamps and everything in between, and wildflowers can be found in all of them. A versatile genus which has species represented in many of these diverse habitats, and can be seen blooming everywhere right now, is Solidago. This wildflower can be found from the beaches to the prairies to recently burned pinelands.